The subject matter disclosed herein relates to seal retaining assemblies and, more particularly, to a seal retaining assembly for turbine assemblies, such as a turbine exhaust flex seal retaining assembly.
Turbine systems, such as gas turbine engines, require sealing in numerous locations due to high temperature and pressure operation. The environmental conditions that the seals are subjected to require occasional replacement of the seals. In some instances, the seals are located in regions of the turbine system that are difficult to access and require substantial disassembly procedures. For example, a seal located near the forward axial end, and radially outer region, of an exhaust diffuser disposed within an exhaust frame is fixed in place with a retaining assembly that maintains a flex seal between a diffuser skin and the exhaust frame. Replacement of the flex seal typically requires removal of the exhaust frame, rotor and/or turbine shell. Such a replacement process undesirably causes long and expensive outages for maintenance operations.